PM vows to protect Britain's borders

The Prime Minister linked up with Home Secretary Charles Clarke for a fourth stop today to unveil the Labour Party pledge on identity cards and immigration.

They arrived at Leeds Bradford Airport in Yorkshire to reveal the slogan: "Your country's borders protected."

Tony Blair said it was a "very difficult but important issue" facing the country.

He said: "Britain has a very proud tradition of welcoming in genuine refugees, and we need people coming in and out of the country.

"But we also know there are abuses of the system. What we need are strict controls, but ones that work, that allow people to come into the country who are genuine refugees, and make sure everyone plays by the rules. It is difficult."

Mr Blair pledged "to make sure that only people who really do qualify get the right to settle here".

He said that the country needed "a stronger and tougher system than the current one".

Mr Blair said: "There are so many, literally millions of people, who will come in and out of a country like Britain every year and do so perfectly lawfully.

"Therefore, making sure we have a system that can allow that to happen for the good of the economy but at the same time weed out the abusers is essential."

Identity cards

He added: "What we are trying to do with identity cards is make use of the modern technology and make sure that we can check who is here and who is coming in.

"We need to make sure that our borders are properly protected, make sure of investment in our immigration service, and make sure we have a system in place where people who come in claiming asylum are dealt with quickly and efficiently.

"If their claims are justified, then fine, if their claims are not, then we manage to get them returned.

"It's a big, big challenge and a challenge of the future."

Mr Clarke said this was "a very important pledge for the forthcoming period".

He said Britain needed to "establish stronger borders" so it could "deal with the issues and challenges we really face".

Mr Clarke said he "attached great importance to our identity card system", which would help deal with problems such as organised crime.